NEW YORK -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The New York City Council on Thursday voted in favor of a bill that would extend term limits , allowing Mayor Michael Bloomberg to run for a third term .

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to seek a third term in office .

The vote was 29 in favor and 22 against .

Bloomberg , who introduced the measure , welcomed the council 's approval as the `` right choice . ''

`` Those of us who work on both sides of City Hall must now move forward with the important decisions that face us , particularly finding ways to soften the fallout from the economic downturn and balancing our budget as revenues decline , '' he said in a statement .

`` We have a lot of work to do together to get New York through these tough times . ''

The bill allows most elected officials , including the mayor , to serve a third four-year term . Previously , New York mayors had been allowed to serve only two four-year terms , meaning Bloomberg would have been required to leave office at the end of next year .

The vote followed two hours of lively debate in a packed room in City Hall , where Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum frequently admonished council members for going over their allotted time to speak . The chatter in the room prompted her to bang her gavel several times to call for order .

The vote also came after the council nixed efforts to put the measure to a public referendum .

Earlier , the council voted 22 in favor and 28 , with one abstention , against an amendment to the bill that would have called for a voter referendum on the issue of term limits .

`` New Yorkers went to the polls twice and said , ` We want term limits , ' '' Tony Avella said , referring to a public vote in 1993 that imposed the two-term limit and another vote in 1996 that maintained it .

`` For us to overturn that legislatively is a disgrace , '' he said . `` You should be all voted out of office for this . ''

Councilman Charles Barron agreed , reminding his colleagues of a proposal put forth to voters in in 2007 in Venezuela that would have allowed President Hugo Chavez to seek re-election indefinitely . The Venezuelan voters narrowly shot it down .

`` Mayor Bloomberg , be like Hugo and let the people decide , '' he said .

`` If we 're talking about direct democracy , where the people rule , and a representative democracy , where those who represent the people come to vote -- if you do this , you 're undermining the very people that vote you in to represent them , '' he said earlier Thursday , arguing in favor of the amendment to put the issue to a public referendum .

Council Speaker Christine Quinn noted in her opening remarks that the vote was `` a very difficult vote in very difficult times . ''

`` Our city , already in recession , is headed for a long and deep downturn , '' she said . `` We will need to do more with less to keep our city moving in the right direction . ''

Earlier in the day , Quinn , an elected official , voiced her support for the bill .

`` At a time like this , we need consistent leadership , '' she said . `` Voters should have the choice to continue their current leadership . They should have the right to vote for the current mayor or a new one . ''

Bloomberg , who was elected as a Republican months after the September 11 attacks , is credited with helping New York recover economically afterward . He was re-elected in 2005 and became an independent in 2007 .

The billionaire businessman announced in early October his intention to ask the City Council to amend the term limits so he could run for re-election .

`` If the City Council should vote to amend term limits , I plan to ask New Yorkers to look at my record of independent leadership and then decide if I 've earned another term , '' Bloomberg said at City Hall .

`` I care deeply about sustaining the progress we made and finishing the job the voters elected me to do . ''

On Wednesday , council members Bill de Blasio and Letitia James filed suit in a state court seeking to block the council 's vote , arguing that it would be a conflict of interest for council members to vote on the bill .

The city 's Conflict of Interest Board determined last week that the council members ' vote would not violate conflict of interest rules .

De Blasio and James condemned the board 's decision , saying it was `` so rushed , so results-oriented , so poorly reasoned and so damaging to the high ethical standards the charter 's framers intended . ''

However , Judge Jacqueline Silbermann denied de Blasio and James ' petition , and their lawyer , Randy Mastro , has said he will not appeal .

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday , 89 percent of New York voters said the issue of term limits should be decided by voters in a referendum , not by the City Council .

The poll also found that 51 percent of voters opposed extending the term limits so Bloomberg could run again . Forty-five percent of voters were in favor of extending the term limits for their mayor .

CNN 's Elise Zeiger contributed to this report .

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NEW : New York City Council votes 29 to 22 in favor of bill to extend term limits

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NEW : Mayor Michael Bloomberg , who introduced measure , calls vote `` right choice ''

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Bill allows Bloomberg , other elected officials to run for third term

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Earlier Thursday , council nixed voter referendum on the issue